Seal for vessels and means for opening the same



N M d 1. A. P. PITZ GERALD.

SEAL FOR VESSELS AND MEANS FOR OPENING THE SAME.

No. 439,133. Patented 001;. 28, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

AUGUSTINE F. FITZ GERALD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SEAL FOR VESSELS AND MEANS FOR OPENING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,133, dated October28, 1890. Application filed April 16, 1890. Serial No. 848,196. (Nomodel.)

T0 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTINE F. FITZ GERALD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Seals for Vessels andMeans for Opening the Same, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.This invention relates to devices for sealing vessels, and has for itsobject to provide animproved seal which can be readily and quicklyapplied, which effectually prevents leakage or admission of air, andwhich can be readily and quickly broken or opened without the use of anytools.

The invention consists of certain improvements in the construction ofsuch devices, which are hereinafter fully set forth.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a plan view of a rectangularvessel, the cover of which is secured thereto according to my invention.Fig. 2 is a perspective of the same, but with the cover partly opened.Fig. 3 is a plan view of a cylindrical vessel sealed according to myinvention; and Fig. etis an elevation, partly in section, of the same,but with the cover partly opened.

The vessels or receptacles shown in the drawings are of ordinaryconstruction except as to the face, which is to be provided with myimproved seal. A large rectangular opening is formed in this face, andmy seal is adapted to cover this opening. In the rectangular box shownin Figs. 1 and 2 this rectangular opening extends nearly to the edges ofthe top of the box, leaving only a narrow rim or frame between theopening and the outer edges of the top of the box. This rim should be ofa material that can be united to a metallic sheet by solder. Thecoveringpiece a is shaped to fit the opening, so that its edges willslightly overlap the edges of the same. This covering-piece a, should beof thin sheet metal, such as tin-plate. A narrow strip 79 is secured tothe under side of the coveringpiece (0, extending diagonally along thecovering-piece and projecting out beyond the edge of the covering-pieceat one of the corners of the same. This strip should be of metal, and isto be secured to the coveringprovided with a handle 0.

piece a by solder or other suitable means. It may be secured to thecovering-piece throughout the length of the part in contact with thecovering-piece or only at its inner end. his essential, however, that itshould be secured to the covering-piece at its inner end. The outer endof the strip 1) is shaped to form or Beneath the covering-piece a andthe strip 17, and at the corner where the strip projects out from thecovering-piece, I provide a sweater cl, which is a small piece of metalsoldered to the top of the box.

In the cylindrical can shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the opening is in theshape of a square and allows considerable margin between its edges andthe circular edge of the top of the can. The covering-piece a is shapedto fit over this opening so that its edges will slightly overlap theedges of the opening. A strip 1) is secured to the covering-piece a, andhas a handle 0 at its projecting end, and a sweater dis secured to thetop of the can under the corner where the strip 0 emerges, all as is inthe construction above described. The sweater cl is soldered in placeupon the face of the vessel, and the strip 1) is secured to thecovering-piece a before the covering-piece is applied to the vessel. Insoldering the sweater to the vessel the soldering-tool is passed overthe surface of the sweater. As the soldering-tool always contains moreor less solder adhering to its surface, a thin film or coating of solderis thereby deposited on the upper surface of the sweater. WVhen thevessel is to be sealed, the covering-piece a, with its attached strip 6,is placed upon the vessel so as to extend over and to cover the openingand to overlap the edges of the same. The covering-piece is thensoldered to the face of the vessel, theheated soldering-tool beingquickly moved entirely around the edges of the covering-piece a. As thesoldering-tool passes over the sweater cl and .over the upper face ofthe strip b, the thin film of solder upon the upper face of the sweaterbecomes softened or is remelted and unites the under surface of thestrip 1) to the surface of the sweater, and, with the solder above thestrip 19, forms a tight joint at this place between the covering-pieceand the surface of the vessel.

It is evident that the soldering-tool in pass- I ing around the edges ofthe covering-piece c0 will pass over the upper face of the partprojecting from this covering-piece-to wit, the strip 1). If no meanswere provided for securing the lower face of this projecting part to thevessel, an unsealed opening would be left at this place, and thus thevessel would leak water and admit air. The sweater (1, however, as abovedescribed, insures a tight joint at this place by the remelting of thethin film of solder on its face. The sweater may, however, be omitted,and a similar result accomplished by dropping a small portion of solderon the corner of the vessel at the point which will.be located under theprojecting end of the strip 6. It is essential that some solder beplaced at this point before the cover is applied, and the use of thesweater insures the proper quantity at the proper place.

The seal can be broken and the cover removed at any time without the aidof any tools bypulling the handle 0 in a direction nearly at rightangles to the face of the ves sel, thereby tearing away thecovering-piece a from the vessel and opening the vessel. As thecovering-piece is thus pulled away from the face of the vessel it tendsto curl or roll up, and I generally find that the corner of thecovering-piece breaks away from the strip 1), which is held nearlystraight by the tension imparted to it, and rolls up, as shown in Figs.2 and 4. I find in practice that the freedom thus allowed to thecovering-piece in my improved seal due to imparting the tension to thestrip considerably diminishes the work of opening the seal, as it savesthe work which would otherwise be expended in holding the covering-piecein the direction of tension. Another advantage of this construction isthat although sufficient solder is thus secured between the sweater andthe strip 1) to make an air and water tight joint, still but a smallportion of the solderis present at this place, and it readily breaksaway when tension is applied to the strip 19 in opening the vessel. Myimproved sealing device thus, while producing a tight seal, enables thevessel to be opened easily without tools.

It is essential with any device used to seal the lower face of thestrip 1) that it should be so placed as to be located exactly under thestrip when the vessel is sealed. This is insured with my sweater d, asit extends in all directions some distance beyond the effectiveposition, and also because its size and shape may be so adjusted that itcan be properly located by registering its corners with the edge of thevessel (see Figs. 1 and 2) or with the corner of the opening. (SeeFig.3.) Any portion of the sweater will of course be effective, so thatsuch slight variations in the positions of the strip b and sweater d aswill necessarily occur in practicing the invention will not preventtheir proper registration and the tight sealing of the vessel.

One of the advantages resulting from the use of my sweater d is that itprovides a slightly-raised and a flat surface at the corner of thevessel, and will thus compensate for any depression and cover anyunevenness at this point.

My improved seal is simple in construction. It can be readily andquickly applied and sealed. Indeed, in the operation of sealing it isonly necessary to pass the soldering-tool once around the edges of thecovering-piece, and this simple operation produces a watertight andair-tight seal. The seal can be readily and quickly broken and thevessel opened without the use of any tools.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a vessel, of a seal consisting of a flatcovering-piece fitted over an opening in the vessel and a narrow stripbetween the vessel and the covering-piece extended substantially acrossthe inner face of the covering-piece and projecting out beyond the edgeof the covering-piece and adapted to form a handle outside of the lineof seal for use in breaking the seal, the narrow strip being secured atits inner end to the coveringpiece and the covering-piece and stripbeing sealed to the vessel entirely around the edges of thecovering-piece, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a vessel, of a seal consisting of an angularcovering-piece fitted over an opening in the vessel and a narrow stripbetween the vessel and the coveringpiece extending substantially acrossthe inner face of the angular covering-piece and projecting out beyondthe edge of the covering-piece at one of the angles thereof and adaptedto form a handle outside of the line of seal for use in breaking theseal, the narrow strip being secured at its inner end to thecovering-piece and the covering-piece and strip being sealed to thevessel entirely around the edges of the covering-piece, substantially asset forth.

3. A seal for vessels, consisting of a covering-piece fitted over anopening in the vessel and secured to the vessel entirely around itsedges and provided with a projecting strip forming a handle in breakingthe seal, in combination with a sweater soldered to the vessel beneaththe projecting'jstrip and at the edge of the covering-piece,substantially as set forth.

4. A seal for vessels, consisting of a covering-piece fitted over anopening in the vessel and secured to the vessel entirely around itsedges and provided on its inner face with a strip secured at its innerend thereto and extending substantially across the same and projectingout beyond the edge thereof, such extendingfpart of the strip forming ahandle in breaking the seal, in combination with a sweater soldered tothe vessel beneath the projecting strip and at the edge of thecoveringpiece, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with a vessel, of a seal consisting of the angularcovering-piece a, fitted over an opening in the Vessel, the narrow a,the strip 17 being secured at one face to the strip 12 on the inner faceof the cover a, ex sweater d and the cover a and strip 1) being I0tending substantially across the inner face sealed to the Vessel aroundthe edges of the of the cover and projecting out beyond the cover,substantially as set forth. 5 edge of the cover aand forming a handleout- AUGUSTINE F. FITZ GERALD.

side of the line of seal for use in breaking the WVitnesses: seal, andthe sweater d, soldered to the Vessel HENRY D. WILLIAMS, beneath thestrip 1) at the edge of the cover EDWIN SEGER.

